Collection Agency Harassment
Q: I would like to know if this is a widespread problem:
In the last few weeks, at home, we have been getting calls from
out-of-state collection agencies trying to get in touch with one
of our neighbors. They have tried to use us as a messenger service.
It is a neighbor we do not know personally and they do not know us
unless it is through a mutual friend or neighbor yet they claim we
were named as a reference. I have learned through our State
government's Consumers Affairs office that this is a tactic of
collection agencies - they use a computer to find listed telephone
numbers of nearby addresses on the same street as their targeted
"deadbeats".
Is anyone familiar with this?
Does anyone know of the legality of this form of harassment?
A:The following has been used successfully in at least once case against
telemarketers; I suspect it would shut up a collection agency's
neighbor-bugging tactic real fast:
Determine the agency's address and send them a contract that states that
the fee for using your telephone equipment to do their collection
business is $100. Calling your number will constitute acceptance of the
agreement.
(It helps if you have an answering machine that records calls.)
If nothing else, the letter would be a strong suggestion for them to
call someone else.